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It was reported here a couple months ago WCAU's studios at the Comcast Technology Center suffered water damage with the sett having to be demolished. Today at 11AM they debuted a new set in the repaired studio: Watching the replay of the newscast on Peacock, there's a lot of elements that remind me of the NBC Sports RSN set. Like the set it replaces, a seamless 4K screen features as the backdrop behind the news desk. Weather is done in front an almost equally large touch screen. Not sure yet if there is a full weather set. We'll see. Update: so they can change the set colors on the fly. Also there's tons of standup pods around the studio. Finally my question about the weather center was answered. The one from the previous set actually survived and is behind the frosted glass the weather screen is mounted on. You can make it out when they pan in on the screen and you can also catch it in the timelapse.

I'm just going to throw this out there..... With the current state of our government and it's concentration of the financially elite (and the maxed-out state of our current TV ownership situation with their regulatory and financial limitations) Billionaires tied to the FCC could go after TV stations and groups to start pushing out state-controlled propaganda, or through "favorable" companies despite any past indiscretions? It's a potential disaster that could very well happen at this rate. Once they weaken the FCC or bow to their demands, it's all over folks.

Instead, they'll live off of syndicated crap game shows or garbage programming. Hey, someone has to push the trash talkers and court shows on the unwashed masses. (Also, are there actually twelve episodes of Family Feud every day?) Scripted programming is not in the past; it just often ends up on streaming services because the broadcast networks generally only want shows that have the broadest appeal. Sports and reality shows succeed at that, partly because they're focused on physical ability (sports), competition (most reality shows on the networks), or relationship drama (the farmer wants a wife? Good for him, but absolutely none of my business). On the scripted side, these means a lot of procedurals, both police/crime-solving (CSI, NCIS, the entire Dick Wolf multiverse) and medical (The Pitt, Doc, House, etc.). The more intellectually-stimulating scripted shows wouldn't have a chance of being picked up by the broadcast networks, and cable channels are not grabbing as many of them as they used to as they themselves are dumbing their content down to widen their appeal. (Why do you think BBC America shows Law & Order repeats?)

We're getting closer to the days when the local affiliate is no longer necessary for network television. Case in point, my local CBS and CW stations are not on YouTube TV at the moment (but still on the air otherwise). YTTV just pops up a network feed that fills in the local slots with CBS News programming and PSAs, and on the CW, their eastern feed. Given the garbage that passes off as network television these days, I'd prefer a hyper-local station that doesn't have to pre-empt things for whatever crap sports or garbage programming is being sent to the affiliates to run.

Except this is a Scripps station. Nexstar owns WOOD-TV + WOTV + WXSP.

And why are we bumping threads from a year-and-a-half ago?

First Coast News uses Good Morning Jacksonville despite the NBC station being their lead product which simulcasts on ABC. WABC calls its 10am newscast Eyewitness News Mornings at 10, despite Mornings being CBS's AM branding. While it's common practice for local stations to brand their morning newscast in line with the national AM newscast, I don't think it's a requirement or an expectation.

It wasn’t a big deal for Fox because they don’t have a national morning show competing against TODAY. ABC does have a national morning show, GMA, who often is neck and neck with the TODAY show in the ratings. That’s the difference here. Also, the morning program on 6 used to be referred to as NBC6 News Today in South Florida.

37 years. What a legacy. What a host. I know this is something we never post but it's TV and broadcasting overall so I'm posting it here. Move it somewhere else if it needs to be. After a 37 year run at QVC, one of its most signature hosts of the shopping network, Mary Beth Roe, has called it a career. While not an overall household name like say Guy Fieri or Rachael Ray, Mary Beth was still a beloved host for the network and you can tell by all the love she received on her last broadcast. This is her last broadcast in full, a two-hour special:

Gray has conflicts in Atlanta and charlotte. Nexstar conflict in Dayton Any chance Hearst jumps on this? Good chance to get some pretty good assets…conflicts in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Orlando would need to be divested, but that should be easy.

barring a hurricane visit, 16 months is probably doable. WPLG started construction in October '07 and was on air in March 2009. besides, it's not like that building is a complex work of art, it's a tarted up concrete box made from precast panels on a slab. 60-90 days for the shell is probably very realistic. Getting the other stuff done will eat most of the time.

Have a feeling when ABC's aboard, WSVN, when it comes to their newscasts, might be a bit more judicial when it comes to nat'l stories mixing in ABC along with CNN moreso than currently constitued btn. FOX & CNN. Also with this affiliation change, Miami joins Phoenix (KTVK) having both Jeopardy! & WoF on a non-network affiliated/independent station.

Well, hopefully construction is underway and that they do it fast, or make it a 24/7 operation (outside of hurricanes and whatnot). The 70th anniversary is July 29th, 2026. That's almost 16 months away.

WSVN is likely not for sale for the forseeable future. We would be reading a very different news releases right now if it were. ABC just didn't want Scripps' alsoran station, and liked what Sunbeam offered. The renewal with FOX is coming up spring 2027, maybe Sunbeam is hedging its options just in case. WPLG will try and give it a go alone copying what WHDH did in Boston but don't nobody be shocked to hear they're for sale As far as construction of the new building for WSVN - people think they were in a rush to move but the new studio was always contingent on the big project accross the street being approved first, and the city didn't take the last vote on that till 11/2024. Ansin siad he wants employees to have somewhere to go, which makes sense many of them live in Miami Shores and the beach for years, they're used to having nice places to visit and Miramar isn't exactly hot, hip and happening. The goal, as I've been told, is to be in by the station's 70th anniversary so they can tie it all up and make a big deal out of it. nah they don't distance themselves. It's a branding decision since the switch days. Currently WSVN airs FOXNews Sunday at 9AM, it used to be on at 4AM Mondays right before Today in Florida. And during the Iraq war they heavily promoted being attached to FOX News. They actually make use of and mention FNC more now than they ever have, and last I was told they're still part of the CNN pool/NewsSource or whatever that's called. Similarly, WHDH referred to itself as '7NBC' only when they mentioned NBC shows during a newscast. Come 2009 when they went HD, the peacock was completely gone from the WHDH open.

So, I actually think there might be something here. Maybe. It's a hunch. Maybe I'm wrong! But, allow me to speculate for a moment. WSVN is in a very unique situation right now. They have plans to build a brand new facility, and their current owners are developing the real estate for both the current facility and the future one. They own the land at both sites, in fact, the future facility is on empty land they've held for years, and the current facility is on land they want to develop into expensive condos. The condo development wouldn't be planned if they didn't think it would make money, and it will probably make enough to pay for the new WSVN facility several times over. This whole new facility project has always had the underlying motive of Sunbeam wanting the station off the current land because they see the value in it, and they have a lot of empty land in Miramar that they can plop it on, to get it out of the way. The common saying is "Disney doesn't buy stations", but there should be an asterisk there. Disney doesn't buy stations because Bob Iger is convinced most are overpriced. Sunbeam has a very interesting position here. Their primary business is, at this point, property development. Building a building just to lease it out is what they do. It seems to me, like they could be in a position to sell WSVN at a "discount", with the remainder being more or less made up via a long-term lease on the new facility. This would be a huge win for Sunbeam. They can develop land that has sat idle for years, and have it immediately start making money, from a tenant that you really wouldn't have to worry about going bankrupt. They'd still make money off the station for years to come, and best of all, it'd be a predictable amount. It is notable that, despite the project being announced some time ago, the parcel the new facility will sit on was untouched as late as October of last year, over a year after it was announced and approved by the city. What's the delay? The fact we're hearing about this now means there's probably been talks about this for months. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Sunbeam put the brakes on the project in order to provide the ability to any possible future owner (I think FOX is also in play here) to make changes before the construction begins. I'm not sure we're done hearing about this "deal"... I don't think Disney would settle for a .2, if there weren't other things in the works. I've been saying since the new facility was announced that this seems ripe for them to sell the station and make money off the lease, and this seems to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

WSVN has formally announced the adding of ABC to its affiliation lineup on the air. WPLG also announced the ending of its ABC affiliation on TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF4ISfI7QJU

You beat me to it. Syndicated options aren't much better. Cheap Byron Allen Court shows like The Verdict with Judge Hatchett, countless Family Feud reruns, Pictionary? Some stations have stooped as low as having paid programming blocks on weekdays. I totally agree that all the good stuff is on streaming while broadcast primetime goes for the generic procedural types. When I overcome my cynicism and actually watch some broadcast primetime shows they're not half bad. ABC's Doctor Odyssey for example. The problem is, shows like that don't encourage me to give them a chance to begin with, because they look like recycled crap.

It would be ideal for Hearst. Big sigh!

Plug:

Could a 2-way sale satisfy that? Say Company A wants to by the stations from Apollo, but they don't want the radio stations. So Company A makes and agreement with Company B that upon completion of the sale from Apollo, Company B is transferred ownership of the radio assets, in exchange for a time honor agreement and a proportional contribution of the entire valuation of the sale (say stock and/or cash). Technically, Company A would acquire Cox since they owned the brokerage account and then would immediately split it. Of course, if Company A was tricky, they could negotiate in bad faith and then once the sale was complete immediately sell the assets anyway.

Yeah, this feels like a stopgap measure. A bandage, even.

I'm surprised Hearst isn't interested in this. They may be taking a careful approach and just avoid it altogether.

Somewhere within the past ??? number of weeks, the weekend 6am--9am ET show was rebranded to Weather Command Weekend. Of course, this literally makes no sense given that the weekday edition of Weather Command remains an 8am-12pm ET show. Would have made a lot more sense to keep the weekend 6am-9am ET branded as Fox Weather First Weekend while rebranding the 9am-2pm ET show to Weather Command Weekend, but it doesn't seem like Fox Weather can make many sensible decisions lately.

So it looks like former CBS 2 sports director Marshall Harris has made his way over to ABC 7

Someone here questioned if WPLG would vie for the Fox affiliation should that ever become available. In many ways, Local 10 News news has the Fox tone that 7 News paved the way for... only now their news product is better than WSVN's, and I would argue it's the best English language product in the Miami DMA. Local 10 News is very fast paced, high story count, and tabloid, with an emphasis on live shots, and spot news...much like 7 News. Should FOX ever migrate there, it would be a perfect fit. *Speculation... we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. Overall WPLG is a great station and I hope it continues to do well after it becomes an independent like WJXT.

Weekends especially, and given the current outlook of the syndication market, it's not a whole lot available beside those AMG shows (two of which they already carry--Kickin' It and Comics Unleashed) and the off-network procedural dramas like the The FBIs, S.W.A.T., the Chicago-verse, The Rookie, and 9-1-1.

I was reminded of that when I was on the TNC Discord in the midst of the WPLG/ABC discussion, and I mentioned it. I remember the story when both stations reported on their newscasts on the evening that particular news broke...it was pretty seismic back then.

This change is very seismic. I remember when WTVJ and WCIX (now WFOR) was changing channels in 1996 and viewers were lost. Glad that WSVN is planning on a marketing campaign because it could be something similar, this time around.

Which makes it highly ironic that Sunbeam agreed to ABC’s terms when it only has three more stations than BH Media has. Granted, the Ansins’ non-broadcast assets are primarily held in real estate, but if Berkshire Hathaway, whose investments pale in comparison was unwilling to pay, why were the reverse comp terms palatable enough for Sunbeam?

The only time ABC has made any tv station transactions since 1985 was buying (and later selling) WTVG and WJRT. I doubt they showed any interest in WPLG. In any case, I'm getting the feeling what's happening here is gonna be more common in the years ahead.

What a big way to venture into WSVN's 70th year. I truly didn't see this on my bingo card for 2025 or for 2026.

I think it’s gonna be almost all simulcasts

Wow. I am STUNNED. WSVN is gonna carry two networks?! I mean, this is like a nuclear bomb dropping over us! I wonder what WSVN will do in terms of news output. There's no way WSVN will split it.

ABC's NBA games, SEC football, everything else all headed to WSVN

I assume WPLG wants to become WJXT South with this move.

Looks like WMAQ,WLS, and WFLD have there anchor teams at the UC, with another back in the studio

Good morning, I have noticed that sometimes you see regular vehicles with permits in the windshield that say, "Chicago TV news Parking Permit," what purpose does it serve? Thanks.

It's an LMA. It's what Nexstar does for Mission stations, especially WPIX, but because it's only one station, instead of all of them it flies under the radar.

WDIV debuted a new studio on 4/20 @ 6pm (weird day/time).. I kinda liked the previous set better..

It was actually Saturday 4/20.

I'd say Sunday at 6 is the perfect time; few are watching, but the ones who do will provide feedback if something went wrong, or for the 11. You never want to launch at 4 on a Monday and then everything breaks down minute one, whereas you can dump to an infomercial on Sunday evening without even a whimper.

Apologies for the bump. Here's a picture of WKRG's old set in use at the University of South Alabama. They kept the desk, and parts of the backdrop. This was during a visit of Alan Sealls, who also teaches meteorology classes at South Alabama.

The 4 O'clock newscast is being done from the stations front lobby. As seen below on the left. We'll see about the 5PM & 6PM/"NEXT" broadcasts. Does anyone know if they are doing maintenance or updating things in studio "A"? The NOON newscast was in studio "A" this afternoon.

After a long 10 years (top picture is previous news set), is Nexstar's Altoona, PA station getting a new news set finally? Is the news set with the blue background pictured a temporary set? The set with the blue background pictured started being used on Friday, September 1st, 2023.

And even their previous set was only about 6 years old. They keep replacing sets like that is going to improve ratings. Honestly, Byron Grandy needs to be fired. He and Joan Barrett haven't a clue what they are doing.

This is what you would expect for a market of this size. This isn't what you'd expect for Denver... Yet that is exactly what we got and it looks like crap.

Yes the blue background is what they typically use at their stations for the temporary set.

Correlation does not imply causation. Nearly every media company’s stock price has been dragging for the last month. The local TV business in general isn’t doing great right now. While this move definitely makes it easier for CBS to move the network in house in Atlanta and Seattle if it wanted to, I highly doubt that’s happening this fall. The Deadline article would’ve mentioned it, and CBS has affiliation contracts to fulfill. EDIT: If those agreements expire in 2024, I suppose things could potentially get interesting. Stay tuned, I guess.

Take a look at KDVR.

New set debuted tonight on their newscast